Just a Random Sunday
I think about blogging a lot. I wish I had time to sit down and do it as much as I think about it, but that's never going to be the case with three little girls needing my attention and a home that needs taken care of. So tonight's post is going to be a bunch of my random thoughts, which I'd intended to each be in separate posts :)
--Last Thursday (1/12/12) I handed over these...
...to the new owners of our former home! Just one year and 5 days after we moved out, we finally sold and completed closing. I had to stay hushed about this because anytime I started to let the cat out of the bag a setback would occur and on many occasions, we felt this deal would fall through. Now that it didn't though, I'm ready to scream it from the hilltops! It's nice to know that we only have one home to care for now and the headache of showings, realtors, feedback, etc. is all OVER :)
--I have a confession to make. Over the past 6 weeks, I've purchased a significant number of these:
I knew I was going to run out of frozen baby food cubes in mid-December and I didn't want to pressure myself with the extra task of whipping up a bunch of new baby food in the midst of 10,000 holiday-related things to do. So I initially bought some fruit and some dinners (I had plenty of frozen veggie cubes still). Then the other day I picked up the ones pictured above because I had coupons for them, and I'm going to copy the food combinations to make more for Bristol.
See, I haven't totally given up on making baby food:
That was a batch of mango chicken. I sorta combined elements from several recipes and then added corn since we had some left over from the night before I made this. Bristol can't get enough of the mango chicken which makes Mama happy. I also made plain mango puree and mango apple blueberry last week. Yummy!
--Speaking of Bristol, I'm well aware that I'm behind again on her monthly post...oops! Here is a sneak preview of a few photos we took in her 9-month onesie:
--That lowest picture isn't cropped at all. It's an example of me still adjusting to having a rebel t3i instead of my former t1i. For some reason I never had any trouble trying to grab my girls' attention and snap pictures without looking into the viewfinder on my old camera. But on this one, I can't seem to get them centered in the frame unless I'm looking through the viewfinder. It's a little tough trying to keep Bristol sitting in one place, to make her smile AND to look through the tiny hole on the camera! Not to mention I've added playing with the manual setting to the list now that I'm taking a photography course.
--Have I mentioned that I'm taking a photography course? I mean, before just now? I can't remember. But I am. It's a 12-week course and at two weeks in I have already made some progress, but have LOTS of questions. I'm not trying to become a photographer, just to take better pictures of my kids. Since we can't afford professional photos for every holiday and every other occasion when my girls are just looking extra sweet, I want to be able to produce great shots of those times on my own.
--See the piano & shape sorter ball toys Bristol was playing with in the photos above? Those are just two of about 50 toddler toys we've had packed away in our guest room closet. Bristol has SO many hand-me-down toys. Would it be rude to include on her first birthday invitation that we'd request no toys as gifts? I don't want to outright say "no gifts" because I didn't do that for either Jaden or Sienna's first birthdays and I don't want the third child looking back and feeling left out that she didn't get to rip into some presents on her first birthday. I know, I know, she won't even remember. BUT, I try to keep things equal so that one child can't ever say we played favorites or that they weren't treated the same. So anyway, would that be rude?
--Speaking of Bristol's first birthday...
I think it's obvious to anyone who follows me on pinterest that the them is going to be The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I have just under 3 months to plan and create the beautiful birthday bash that I'm envisioning, so last night I sat down and wrote down my ideas, measured certain spaces in our house to see where I'd put certain things and I made the guest list. Oh my, the guest list. I don't want to leave anyone out, but we're seriously going to have to have shifts for people to come in! It will all work out in the end, and I'm just super excited to work on some fun and creative projects soon for the party!
--Yesterday marked two years since my friend Julie had a baby girl Mallory. Mallory was born sleeping and it was a very sudden series of events which led to her delivery at 33 weeks. Julie sent out a facebook invite urging each of us to do something in Mallory's honor yesterday. I thought and thought about what we could do, and in the end nothing seemed quite right. So yesterday we just played with and enjoyed our own little girls. These three are so precious and I try never to take for granted what a blessing it is that God gave them to us and how incredible it is that we are all healthy. Here are the girls playing "horseys" and "rider." Bristol loves when we crawl around with her!
--I'd still love to do something more in Mallory's honor. I have a few donation ideas, but I really wanted it to be something I could involve my girls in. I like for them to experience helping / giving to others. I think it's important that they learn from this early age that it is important to put others, even strangers, above themselves in some capacity. Any ideas?
--There have been a few ongoing debates in our house spanning several years now. The first is that someone thinks that we are the only family whose kitchen island (or any countertop for that matter) gets cluttered with mail / school papers / to-do lists / etc. The second is a debate over television. At your houses, how much of the evening is spent with the TV on? Do you ever turn it off for a night? If you don't watch TV, what do you do instead?
--I found something quite exciting at the grocery store today. As we collected email addresses from those of you who wanted to follow our blog, quite a few of you mentioned either that you needed to follow for weight loss Wednesdays, or that you wanted more of our recipes, or both. Well let's just say that I hit the jackpot on all of those things today and I can't wait to share this week!
Well, my random post has turned into quite the questionnaire, eh? Didn't mean for it to turn out that way, but it did. There's a little button below each post labeled "comment"--if you click on that, you can leave comments right here on the blog. Some of you already know about this, but just thought I'd mention it to everyone. Or you can comment on facebook. Or send me an email. Or give me a call. Or just keep quiet. That's always an option too. Thanks for staying tuned through my ramblings tonight. Have a great week!
--Last Thursday (1/12/12) I handed over these...
...to the new owners of our former home! Just one year and 5 days after we moved out, we finally sold and completed closing. I had to stay hushed about this because anytime I started to let the cat out of the bag a setback would occur and on many occasions, we felt this deal would fall through. Now that it didn't though, I'm ready to scream it from the hilltops! It's nice to know that we only have one home to care for now and the headache of showings, realtors, feedback, etc. is all OVER :)
--I have a confession to make. Over the past 6 weeks, I've purchased a significant number of these:
I knew I was going to run out of frozen baby food cubes in mid-December and I didn't want to pressure myself with the extra task of whipping up a bunch of new baby food in the midst of 10,000 holiday-related things to do. So I initially bought some fruit and some dinners (I had plenty of frozen veggie cubes still). Then the other day I picked up the ones pictured above because I had coupons for them, and I'm going to copy the food combinations to make more for Bristol.
See, I haven't totally given up on making baby food:
That was a batch of mango chicken. I sorta combined elements from several recipes and then added corn since we had some left over from the night before I made this. Bristol can't get enough of the mango chicken which makes Mama happy. I also made plain mango puree and mango apple blueberry last week. Yummy!
--Speaking of Bristol, I'm well aware that I'm behind again on her monthly post...oops! Here is a sneak preview of a few photos we took in her 9-month onesie:
--That lowest picture isn't cropped at all. It's an example of me still adjusting to having a rebel t3i instead of my former t1i. For some reason I never had any trouble trying to grab my girls' attention and snap pictures without looking into the viewfinder on my old camera. But on this one, I can't seem to get them centered in the frame unless I'm looking through the viewfinder. It's a little tough trying to keep Bristol sitting in one place, to make her smile AND to look through the tiny hole on the camera! Not to mention I've added playing with the manual setting to the list now that I'm taking a photography course.
--Have I mentioned that I'm taking a photography course? I mean, before just now? I can't remember. But I am. It's a 12-week course and at two weeks in I have already made some progress, but have LOTS of questions. I'm not trying to become a photographer, just to take better pictures of my kids. Since we can't afford professional photos for every holiday and every other occasion when my girls are just looking extra sweet, I want to be able to produce great shots of those times on my own.
--See the piano & shape sorter ball toys Bristol was playing with in the photos above? Those are just two of about 50 toddler toys we've had packed away in our guest room closet. Bristol has SO many hand-me-down toys. Would it be rude to include on her first birthday invitation that we'd request no toys as gifts? I don't want to outright say "no gifts" because I didn't do that for either Jaden or Sienna's first birthdays and I don't want the third child looking back and feeling left out that she didn't get to rip into some presents on her first birthday. I know, I know, she won't even remember. BUT, I try to keep things equal so that one child can't ever say we played favorites or that they weren't treated the same. So anyway, would that be rude?
--Speaking of Bristol's first birthday...
I think it's obvious to anyone who follows me on pinterest that the them is going to be The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I have just under 3 months to plan and create the beautiful birthday bash that I'm envisioning, so last night I sat down and wrote down my ideas, measured certain spaces in our house to see where I'd put certain things and I made the guest list. Oh my, the guest list. I don't want to leave anyone out, but we're seriously going to have to have shifts for people to come in! It will all work out in the end, and I'm just super excited to work on some fun and creative projects soon for the party!
--Yesterday marked two years since my friend Julie had a baby girl Mallory. Mallory was born sleeping and it was a very sudden series of events which led to her delivery at 33 weeks. Julie sent out a facebook invite urging each of us to do something in Mallory's honor yesterday. I thought and thought about what we could do, and in the end nothing seemed quite right. So yesterday we just played with and enjoyed our own little girls. These three are so precious and I try never to take for granted what a blessing it is that God gave them to us and how incredible it is that we are all healthy. Here are the girls playing "horseys" and "rider." Bristol loves when we crawl around with her!
--I'd still love to do something more in Mallory's honor. I have a few donation ideas, but I really wanted it to be something I could involve my girls in. I like for them to experience helping / giving to others. I think it's important that they learn from this early age that it is important to put others, even strangers, above themselves in some capacity. Any ideas?
--There have been a few ongoing debates in our house spanning several years now. The first is that someone thinks that we are the only family whose kitchen island (or any countertop for that matter) gets cluttered with mail / school papers / to-do lists / etc. The second is a debate over television. At your houses, how much of the evening is spent with the TV on? Do you ever turn it off for a night? If you don't watch TV, what do you do instead?
--I found something quite exciting at the grocery store today. As we collected email addresses from those of you who wanted to follow our blog, quite a few of you mentioned either that you needed to follow for weight loss Wednesdays, or that you wanted more of our recipes, or both. Well let's just say that I hit the jackpot on all of those things today and I can't wait to share this week!
Well, my random post has turned into quite the questionnaire, eh? Didn't mean for it to turn out that way, but it did. There's a little button below each post labeled "comment"--if you click on that, you can leave comments right here on the blog. Some of you already know about this, but just thought I'd mention it to everyone. Or you can comment on facebook. Or send me an email. Or give me a call. Or just keep quiet. That's always an option too. Thanks for staying tuned through my ramblings tonight. Have a great week!
Comments
As soon as I clean the island, it gets cluttered RIGHT away!!! So, no you aren't the only one!
Yay for selling the house!
Love the pictures of Bristol with the new camera. So lucky you are taking the camera class. Soak it all up!
An idea to help remember baby Mallory...as a family, you can each release a (pink) balloon for her at a special spot (like a park or something). Make it a yearly tradition. It's kind of sending her love in heaven.